Light-hearted lip sync now going global

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What started as a light-hearted entry in the Geraldine High School lip sync competition will take five young men to Hollywood.

Mark Holder, Rhidian Scott-Towers, Matt Hayward, Dougal Polson and Joel Martin have been invited to join the New Zealand Black Stars team travelling to Los Angeles, California for the World Championships of Performing Arts in July.

The dance group, who call themselves "Third", entered the Gangnam Style routine in the school competition. They came third but were hugely popular with the crowd.

They were invited to perform at the Miss Caroline Bay pageant this year, where Accolades International Marketing director Dina Janse van Rensburg was judging.

Mrs Janse van Rensburg, who runs the national side of the competition, invited the boys to join the Black Stars.

"We pretty much just got found," Mark said. "All we did was do the lip sync at school. And we came third.

"It was a big shock. We just didn't really believe what was going on and then it just slowly started to sink in that she's not having us on.

"The more we looked into it the more convinced we were."

Mrs Janse van Rensburg told them she "loved what they did".

"And she said we had a very good chance of doing well over there [in Hollywood]."

Now all the boys have to do was get the funding together, he said.

"That's why we are trying to fundraise as much as we can."

The boys, who had never danced a step in their lives, are still in disbelief that they will perform in Hollywood.

"We actually didn't think it was good enough to win anything. Like we didn't even win our school lip sync.

"But everybody has seemed to love it so far and apparently we are good enough to go."

They are all self-taught, learning moves from YouTube videos.

The group's profile is gaining momentum, drawing invites to perform from around the region and gaining more than 700 "likes" on its Facebook page.

In the meantime Third are working on a new dance for the Caroline Bay Talent Contest.